Even before he became governor of South Dakota, Bill Janklow was famous for his hands-on approach to government. When a gunman took hostages in the state Capitol on July 4, 1976, the then attorney general brought a rifle to the scene. The hostages escaped without Janklow’s assistance, but throughout his career, he rushed to the scene of whatever fire, flood, tornado, or other disaster befell his state.
Born in Chicago, Janklow moved to South Dakota with his mother as a child, said the Rapid City, S.D., Journal. He made his name as a lawyer prosecuting American Indian protesters who rioted at the Custer County Courthouse in 1973. Janklow was elected attorney general the following year, kicking off a political career that included four terms as Republican governor and one as a congressman. Although he was an opinionated man who “rubbed opponents and sometimes political allies the wrong way,” the people of South Dakota “never grew tired of electing him to office.”
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“If I had to do it over, I’d do everything I did,” said Janklow when he was diagnosed with brain cancer in November, “but I’d stop at a stop sign.”